Here’s a modest proposal for solving the blue roof controversy: Raise the pump house 30 feet, and place a ring of fire around the base, a la the plans for the Keeper of the Plains. It will look impressive, and no one will be able to see the roof at that height.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
In case you’re wondering whether our state’s reputation is getting hammered for our State Board of Education’s recent evolution antics, the answer is “yes.” No less austere a group than the nation’s cartoonists have weighed in. OK, austerity is in the eye of the beholder, but personal prejudices aside, these guys are killing us.
Here’s a toon from Iowa. It’s by Brian Duffy of The Des Moines Register. You can double-click on it to make it larger. Brian uses one of my favorite devices here: the monkey school board. He draws from the “monkey on your back” adage. I especially like the “monkey suit” addition, tuxedo tails flying in the breeze. Monkeys and cartoons go together like peanut butter and jelly.
We swing out to California now for a slightly more evolved version of our beloved school boardians. Rex Babin of The Sacramento Bee delivers a sting with this drawing. Check out the Australopithecus-guy on the far right who’s flipping his lips, no doubt making a funny “B-b-b-b-b-b” noise.
On up to Minnesota we go for this bumper sticker treatment of our sad situation here in the Sunflower State. Steve Sack gives his readers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune a sad assessment of what our science classes are teaching. Thanks a lot, school board majority. You’re working economic development wonders for our “big-thinking” state.
Tom Toles at The Washington Post uses our old favorite movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” to savage us. Now we not only have the movie’s black-and-white image to live down, but also the polarizing actions of our pre-Scopes trial school board majority to further brand us as a colorless bunch of yahoos. Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are obviously locked in the shelter, eating sandhill plum jelly and bad-mouthin’ that ol’ highfalutin activist-scientist bunch of evil-lutionists!
So my question is: When are the people who are supposed to be concerned with eco-devo and business climate issues going to start speaking out about the damage being done to Kansas by our backward-leaning school board? Chambers of commerce, business leaders: Why the silence? We’re getting the kind of reputation nationally that all the four-color brochures and “branding” slogans in the world won’t be able to overcome.
I drew this cartoon about our image problem in 1999, and after comments I’ve heard on recent trips out of state, I have to say it’s worse than ever. Anyone else running into snickers from outsiders?
Posted by Richard Crowson
Sometimes readers will take one of my cartoons and do a little bit of editing to it. On the left is a cartoon I drew last week. You can double-click on it to make it larger. To the right is the version mailed in by Dick Hopper of Derby. Thanks, Dick. You seem to have a slightly different take on the situation. Especially nice: the logs labeled "branch."
Posted by Richard Crowson
In the new tradition of Democrats putting their own spin on the GOP themes of family and moral values, Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, told an Overland Park audience this month that he refers to the soaring interest payments on the nation’s current $7.8 trillion debt as “the debt tax.”
“We talk so much in Washington about values, but I think a truer measure of values is not what we say, it’s where we decide we’re going to spend our money,” Moore said, as reported in The Johnson County Sun.
In noting that the debt tops $26,000 per citizen, he quipped, “There will be a basket by the door.”
Strange that many Republicans are comfortable with this unseen burden, opening the door for Democrats to make it a priority.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
You’d think doctors would overwhelmingly side with mainstream scientists in the evolution debate. But just 63 percent of physicians said they agree more with evolution than with intelligent design in a recent poll by a social and religious research division of New York City’s Jewish Theological Seminary. The evolution support was strong among Jewish doctors (86 percent), followed by Hindus (68 percent), Catholics (61 percent) and, most strikingly, Protestants (43 percent). This shows how faith is entangled in this education issue.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
With all the turmoil and uncertainty about the sale of Boeing Wichita’s commercial division, it’s comforting that a hometown product and genuine good guy — Jeff Turner — will be heading up the new company. Wichita needs Mid-Western Aircraft Systems to succeed and grow, and Turner is just the person to help make that happen.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A sticker (displayed upside down) on the back window of a Jeep Cherokee spotted in west Wichita: “If you can’t read this, roll me over.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s arguable whether celebrities rule the world, but I’m glad that they don’t rule our government (except in California).
If they did, Paris Hilton would hold more power than Bill Clinton, judging from Forbes magazine’s power rankings of celebrities. Clinton came in at No. 56, Hilton at 55.
No matter how you feel about Clinton, President Hilton is a scary thought. For more on the list, click here.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
